A short story about why the Championship really matters
In 1956 following a successful season as Oxford University’s fly half and an impressive performance in the Varsity Match Mike Smith won his first England cap in the Five Nations against Wales.
He went on to win 50 further caps between 1958 and 1972 – as a middle-order batter, fine close catcher and popular captain of England’s cricket team – without again catching the eye of those in charge at Twickenham.
Fast forward 68 years and it’s fair to say that being spotted in long shorts at Iffley Road is no longer such a well-trodden route into the England team. However, the alternative pathways available to those journeying from teenage hopeful to red rose regular generate plenty of opinion.
In current times, the vast majority of players who go on to represent England in the Six Nations or at a World Cup begin their professional rugby journey in the Gallagher Premiership’s academy system.
Each season a reasonable-sized group of mid-teens join each club’s junior academy and over three years this squad is pared down to a handful of 18-year-olds who win a three-year contract to train with the pros as paid apprentices or to give them their modern title academy professionals.
All well and good…but what about those who don’t make the cut at 18, or those late developers who never entered the academy sausage machine in the first place?
English rugby is sprinkled with products of junior clubs and those who took up the sport in their late teens who often are from non-rugby playing schools. Among this list are some well-known names have successfully defied the odds and gone on to make the grade.
Recent Exeter signing Will Rigg is living proof that being seated on the rocket fully equipped with helmet, air-sickness pills and a large dose of ambition at the age of 15 is not the only way to reach the stars.
The 24-year-old powerhouse centre is yet to reach the attention of the wider English rugby public. However, there are plenty of experienced rugby watchers in South Wales and the West Midlands that have the Solihull School product earmarked for a big future.
At the age of 15 Rigg was a talented sportsman at a school where – under the watchful eye of former England all-rounder Darren Maddy – they know a thing or two about turning out useful cricketers.
Although he also played in the school rugby team and for his local club Silhillians, Rigg was a regular in Warwickshire’s county cricket age group sides and well-known at Edgbaston. When he completed his A levels it was therefore no surprise that he headed off to Coburg CC in Melbourne for a winter developing his talents in the testing environment of Australian grade cricket.
However, the tide soon began to turn for Rigg, who in his own words “fell out of love with cricket a bit” during his spell Down Under. As a result when he returned to the UK he embarked upon a degree in business management at Cardiff Met University and fancying a game of rugby turned up at the freshers’ trials with no thought of what might follow.
“I went to the trials thinking I’d enjoyed rugby at school and hoping I might get in one of the Cardiff Met teams,” he said.
“I obviously did something right because within a few weeks I’d made my first team debut.
“But Covid then came along and we didn’t play much in my second year or for some of my third year. To be honest, when we started again I wasn’t thinking about anything more than cementing a place in the BUCS first team.
“I managed to put some good performances together and after a few conversations with an agent decided to see if I might be good enough to make a go of rugby.
“Alex Rae at Coventry then approached me in March or April and it seemed like that would be a good move as it was close to my home, but more importantly because he convinced me there would be an opportunity for me to play plenty of rugby.
“I knew Alex had only been in post a couple of months and was building a squad with plenty of emphasis on younger players which meant it would be a fresh play for everyone. He told me there would be chances for me and that the environment he wanted to create would be fair to everyone and reward those who performed well.
“Alex put together a group in which there were very few Premiership drop-downs but instead most of us arrived from universities or the National Leagues. He obviously believed in his own recruitment and managed to build a team that finished third in the league last year by adding this group to some players who were already there then bringing in a couple with more experience on top.”
If student rugby at Cardiff Met launched Rigg on his way, he has no doubt that joining Coventry where he received some outstanding coaching and learned rapidly in the ultra-competitive English Championship turned him into much more than a promising rugby player.
“Never having been involved in a pathway or professional team before, when I first arrived at Cov I relied on my own instincts and physical presence,” he said.
“Getting used to systems and some of the more technical bits took time but once that came my confidence really grew. Putting together what I learned individually from the coaches with game management skills plus improved strength and conditioning turned me from the raw player that left uni into someone who knows a lot more about the game and is a much better rugby player.
“Cov provide a great environment for someone in my situation – you are given all the tools and it is then up to you to do the work to put things into place. I worked loads with (backs coach) Gordon Ross on passing and kicking but maybe my biggest improvement came in defence where I used to sit down and look at match videos with (defence coach) James Scaysbrook.”
What would Rigg say to a talented teenager who has either failed to catch the eye of the Premiership academies or fallen by the selection wayside at one of the top ten clubs?
“The only way to improve is by playing rugby,” he says. “From September 2022 to January 2024 I played around 40 competitive games in the Championship or the Premiership Cup.
“The quality of the Championship and just how many really good players there are playing in it sometimes gets missed a bit. For any young player having the chance to play plenty of rugby at that level is vital to their development.”
The next stage on Rigg’s journey challenges him to start again in Devon and try to play as regularly in the Premiership as he has in the Championship. In this respect he made a good start by scoring a couple of tries on debut for Exeter in a friendly against the Scarlets.
The demands of modern professional sport mean no-one will again follow in MJK Smith’s 1950’s footsteps and represent their country at both cricket and rugby union, but alternative routes to the top tier of English rugby clearly do still exist.
Smith went on to form the backbone of a 1960s and early 70s Warwickshire batting line-up in which he was often joined by another Edgbaston legend Dennis Amiss. Might the combination of Rigg’s power with Henry Slade’s footballing skills become a similarly potent partnership?
And could Rigg and Slade join Smith and Amiss in starring for both club and country? Time will tell.
Comments on RugbyPass
Safas are so triggered by Ireland. 3 consecutive losses, incl RWC. 8 losses out of last 12 Tests. Always excuses, of course, with Bok fans. Now Rassie with his “88%” nonsense, the Claytons Excuse is an embarrassment to Bok teams of the past when every test mattered. Their fickle mojo will be on edge for the Ireland tour. Have the referees been appointed yet ? They will need security. Have WR laid out strict guidelines for TMO’s and replays on the stadium screens ? Will the constant stoppages from Bok forwards for cramps and bootlaces be tolerated ? We’re not talking a dominant Springbok team here, they won the LOTTO Cup and they know it whether they admit it or not. The Disney doco has their fans positively fermenting internally, its going to be a nasty hangover if they get beaten on home soil. What will the excuses be then……
69 Go to commentsGreat role model.
2 Go to commentsOne significant tell, not a single Waratahs player stopped to whinge to the ref about Finau’s tackle. They got on with playing the game. Great tackle.
8 Go to commentsWouldn’t be a bad move if Ireland pulled into SA with a young side. Particularly in Pretoria. Invaluable experience getting thumped in the bosveld.
69 Go to commentsIreland. The Princess Diana of Rugby. I never cheered so much for a team as i did for the All Blacks in that QF.
69 Go to commentsWill be great to see the Leinster first XV back in action again after their cotton wool time…
1 Go to commentsLooked up Grant Constable on google and reply was doppelgänger for Ben Smith
69 Go to commentsIt is so good that we now all get excited and debate who is best and emotionally get involved. We all back our teams which is great. Up until about 15-20 years ago, NZ was basically on its own, and then Saffa, Aussie and sometimes French and English were there. We now have at least 5-6 really top sides and another 4 who keep improving. This is so healthy. So we should not resort to rubbish comments and unhealthy debate, but rather all be chuffed that the product we watch is not competitive, exciting and often uncertain. It would be so good if World Rugger could find a way to align the rules to professional players as well as spectators. Live rugby games are SO boring as there is SO much down time as we wait for refs and TMOs and whoever else to look at every small event going back endless phases with the hope of eventually find a minute infringement to then decide cancel what was a wonderful try. This is the ultimate cork back in the bottle moment and feels like every balloon is always being popped. Come on- we must be better with the rules.
69 Go to comments“upon leaving said establishment I tripped over a stool knocking some bottles into the air and as I fell I accidently dislodged a police officer’s teaser who was passing by on an unrelated matter there by landing on said taser which caused it to discharge 50,000 watts into me. Out of shock I shouted Ireland are going to win the world cup. Upon waking up I apologised for the distress caused by my Ireland comment. The matter is closed. If you wish to pursue this matter may I remind you what I told Wayne Barnes when he sent me off. I AM A BIG ASS MAN”. Or was it “I AM A BIG ASS, MAN” or was it “I AM A BIG ASSMAN”?
2 Go to commentsThe only championship the Boks hold are: Great value for the incompetence of referees during the RWC Moaning endlessly and champions of spewing utterly ignorant 💩 at all times. Displaying the dangers of a third world education End of.
69 Go to commentsSouth Africa and Rassie do a phenomenal job of treating the 4 years in between World Cups as nothing more than a training exercise to build squad depth. The Six Nations money that keeps Irish rugby afloat is unfortunately too important to allow the same approach, and basic population size means we'll never get close to matching the depth of South Africa, England and France. That being said, Irish rugby is in a relatively good place and slowly improving inch by inch. If the other three provinces can pull the finger out and actually develop some players it'd be even better.
69 Go to commentsGood on Clarke for taking on the criticism and addressing his deficiencies, principally his laziness.
2 Go to comments“It is the people’s favourite against the actual favourite. It is the people’s champions against the actual champions. I’m joking, but it’s going to be a fantastic series.” Why did Darcy make that joke knowing it would be used as click bait? Why did RP headline it as a serious comment? Anyway, the tired comment isn’t very astute. SA players may have played more games etc. Darcy over estimated as a pundit.
69 Go to commentsNot sure Frisch will ever make the French team with Depoortère and Costes waiting in the wings to take over from Danty and Fickou.
1 Go to commentsThe Irish are tired and the Boks are old. The test series won't confirm who is best in the world, it will confirm which team needs to pursue the task of rebuilding with the most urgency.
69 Go to commentsGrant, the first time I have seen an article written by you. Maybe I have missed your previous stuff. These days all professional players effectively play a common season so all top players are equally tired, or rested. That is the job of the coaching ticket to build squad depth and juggle resources so players are ‘ fresh’ when the big games come. Possibly Ireland are less inclined to juggle squad compared to Rassie, who is prepared to take the risk to rest players as well as build depth throughout the year so come WC he has a full squad, experienced and rested enough to win 7 games. After all, to win WC you need to get through the tournament and then win the final big 3 games. Ireland should try and build a bit so come final 3 they are ready. So far only played final 1(QF). I am so looking forward to the Irish tour. Hopefully Rassie has enough time to align his guys, as he draws them from across the globe, and not from 2 sides locally( eg Leinster, Munster). No excuses, going to be exciting.
69 Go to commentsIn football, teams get fined and sometimes docked points for deliberately fielding weakened teams yet Leinster can pretty much do as they please with no comebacks. Could it be because Ireland run the URC? Could it be that Ireland run the ERC? Whichever it is, it stinks!!
6 Go to commentsIreland are only the People’s Champions in Irish eyes. The rest of the world do not care for them very much because of attitudes of people like Gordon, Ferris, Best, Jackman…I could go on!!
69 Go to commentsNot sure how Karl Dickson can ever ref a Quins game, he played for the club for 8 years as understudy to Care and is still close friends with half the team
3 Go to commentsAre bookies taking bets on how many times Vunipola's eventual statement will use the term “elders"? My money is on at least 4 times.
4 Go to comments